Instant riches came my way in the last week. It was quite amazing.
What’s even more amazing is that it happened two times. Yes, lightning struck twice, and a pot of gold has resulted.
Windfall #1
Who would have thought that a Hong Kong entity would want to facilitate making me the beneficiary of an estate of people I’ve never met? I got this tragic yet spectacular email about how an Indonesian man passed away in an accident a few years back, and had left over $20 million dollars to no heirs.
Lo and behold, none other than your own Mr. Squirreler was selected to receive this sum of money. Yes, I received an email about this which spelled it out. As a “foreigner, I’ve been chosen to stand as next of kin to get the money. Who would have thought such an amazing thing could happen?
I just need to provide some personal information to them, and the process can commence. Amazing.
Windfall #2
As if the first surprise wasn’t enough, I got this wonderful email from a group out of France that told me that I have been chosen to receive $1 million USD as “charity donations/aid.” I have to simply email a bank in the United Kingdom for more details. One can presume from the email that this initial contact will set things in motion for this money to come to me. Yes!
How nice of them to give me the charity donations/aid, as they put it. I wonder how they found me and decided that I need this? Well, who wouldn’t want to be notified that they’re eligible to get $1 million dollars, right?
It’s just amazing, isn’t it?
What a stunning coincidence, both of these notifications within a week of each other. Can you imagine how lucky someone must be to have this happen? Two prizes totaling well over $20 million USD! To plain ole me! WOW!
Early retirement, here I come! Forget this Chicago cold. Time for a second home in the tropics! Maybe a third home in Europe would be nice, and a fourth home in Southeast Asia as well. You know, since this windfall came from those regions.
To think that such an incredible monetary award could be awarded via an email that hit my spam folder. Who would have ever thought this would be possible? What a country! No need to even think about an emergency fund! 🙂
My Questions for You:
What’s the silliest spam, international fortune email you’ve ever received?
Do you know anyone that ever thought that a ridiculous email like one of these I received could be legit? If yes, please tell me that person isn’t you! 🙂
photo credit: danielfoster437
I miss the Nigerians. I liked the elegant and flowery composition of their scam letters . Maybe they moved to France and Hong Kong.
101 Centavos – The Nigerians were quite eloquent in their emails, weren’t they? Or whoever it really was sending those emails.
Hilarious post! These emails make me chuckle. I actually got a few myself the other day. Looks like we both got lucky! 🙂 It’s amazing how these scams still go on. Doesn’t everyone know about them already?
Buck Inspire – Well, congrats on your good fortune as well! 🙂
Oh, yes. Just email them all of your banking info and they’ll be happy to “deposit” that windfall. 😉 I’m constantly receiving these emails from all over the world, like Iraq, supposedly. Surely no one falls for these scams anymore, right?
Little House – I sure hope nobody falls for those scams anymore. But I’m guessing some people do, unfortunately. The something for nothing urge is present in many, and while most can control those impusles, some can’t.
Hilarious! With my last name being Lin I receive most of them from Asian countries. 🙂
There are 2 groups of people on the internet savvy and non-savvy. The internet savvy group just chuckles as we all do and hit delete.
The sad thing is that I am sure that somewhere non-savvy people fall for these types of scams otherwise why would the scammers still spend time sending them out. Unfortunately most of the people that do fall for this are probably elderly – very sad indeed!
Deidre – Yes, it might be the elderly who fall for these scams in disproportionate numbers. Sad for sure. Rip off artists are awful, but doubly awful for picking on the elderly. This group is probably the least internet savvy as it is.
The Nigerian scammers need some creativity. The pharmaceutical spammers are way better; there isn’t a day I don’t laugh all the euphemisms used to describe what their product will do to your “junk.”
JT – this made me laugh. Those characters are quite creative in how they word things. Some of the non-prescption ads I’ve seen on TV are funny as well, with comical innuendo.
What kills me about this spam scam is that some people fall for it! I think I still get a couple of these a month. The newest ones mention that they are dying without heirs ……….. I delete after reading the first line!
krantcents – it’s funny how they expect us to believe that a random person from across the globe has decided to give an equally random stranger a fortune. Crazy that people believe it or even consider it could be true.
Every so often, for shits and giggles I respond back in broken English about how I really needed this money and my job about winning and how I was going to quit my job that afternoon. You can almost smell the glee when they respond back. Of course I only do this at an address that I have set up specifically for spam.
Fun times.
Sandy – that’s funny. You have a separate account to deal with such clowns? Funny that you’re dueling with them. Reminds me of a tv episode (don’t remember which show), where a guy got a call from a telemarketer and asked if he could call back. They won’t give their number, of course:)
Squirrelers, that’s awesome! You should take the money and invest in lottery tickets….I hear that if you buy enough of them the overall payout will statically be greater than your return on the typical money market account. Just don’t buy the scratchers….that’s too much work.
CNC – yes, it’s cool isn’t it? To think that this good fortune came from random emails to hit my spam folder! What great luck. And if I take your lottery ticket tip, these winnings could be multiplied! Personal finance is so easy….
Say, since you’re loaded… ummm can you spot me a few hundred thousand dollars, as I’m not quite at a million yet, ummm actually, it’s going to take me more than a few hundred thousand! I’ll send you and email 😉
I’ve only received the Nigerian claims, but it’s always a mistake… bummer huh.
Funny post, than for the laugh!
I wonder why the government or some other charity doesn’t run TV ads stating that these are fake and not to fall for them? Obviously a lot of people are suckered in… It’s a shame huh.
Money Reasons – Yeah, that’s the problem: you’ve only received the Nigerian claims. The newer ones from other corners of the globe are obviously more profitable 🙂
I haven’t seen those emails in a long time. I think Gmail is getting better at weeding them out. I don’t even open the ones that show up in my inbox anymore either, they go straight to the spam folder.
retirebyforty – you know, I hadn’t seen those types of emails in a while, until they reemerged lately. They’re getting more wacky.
I love the picture in this post. How I would love to be wherever that picture is.
Let me check my email, one second…
My email has won many prizes, and I also have quite a few emails with the title “Blessed is the hand that giveth”.
Thank goodness Comcast sends all these to my junk email automatically. My kids love to read through them though.
Everyday Tips – yes, a beach would be great about now. More snow here today, though just an inch…not like the 20+ inches from earlier this month.
Oh no! When I saw the title of your post I thought you won a lottery. LOL Then I read… I receive a lot of those emails and I don’t even bother to read them. I think I am afraid to open them because I think they might give me some virus. 🙂 I am paranoid this way. Great post, BTW.
I like your new design!
Aloysa – thanks! You have a good point about being careful with such emails. One could get burned for opening one to read for entertainment.
Wow, you’re a big “baller” now! I hate getting contacted by the scammers as well. I have seriously thought of using an email address that isn’t well-known; however, given that I don’t know who is selling my email address in the first place, I think it is just a matter of time before my new email address was compromised. Sometimes it seems futile.
This is a funny post. The NBC show 30 Rock pokes fun at internet spams, but it is actually a serious problem. I saw a 60 minutes exclusive on nigerian spam scams such as this.
I like the idea of replying back to them and playing around with them for fun. The problem is they can get rejected by 20 million people, yet if 1 person forks over $10,000 that makes it all worth it for them.